The appointed Chair is Anne Longfield (Baroness Longfield) who was the Children's Commissioner for England from from March 2015 until the end of February 2021. On receiving her peerage, Longfield took the Labour Whip in the House of Lords which she will now resign.
There are to be two other
'panellists' - Zoë Billingham - a former inspector at His Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary, and currently chair of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS foundation trust. The other is Eleanor Kelly - a former chief executive of Southwark council.There will be a consultation on the (draft) terms of reference with an aim of agreeing them by March 2026. The inquiry will be time-limited to 3 years - i.e. to March 2029 with any final report to follow. The timing is almost coincidental with the end of the present Parliament (assuming the Parliament runs its full 5 year course).
The inquiry will differ from most (maybe all) previous inquiries in that there will be a series of local investigations, overseen by the national panel with full statutory powers. Baroness Longfield has confirmed that Oldham will have a local investigation. The chair and panel will determine the other locations in due course. No area will be able to resist a local investigation.
The criteria used to select local areas will be agreed between the Government and the Inquiry within three months of the formal setting-up date. The Chair may decide for any local area that public hearings are required, but in other areas they may not be required and should be sensitive to the impact on victims and survivors.
Mahmood also stated that the inquiry will 'consider, explicitly, the background of offenders, including their ethnicity and religion, and whether the authorities failed to properly investigate what happened out of a misplaced desire to protect community cohesion.'
This inquiry will seek to address what is plainly a particularly long-standing problem of serious sexual offending against (mainly) female young persons and children. When responding to the Home Secretary's announcement, the shadow Home Secretary (Chris Philp MP) drew attention to some of the cases. An internet search will reveal numerous examples of this form of offending.
Reaction to the inquiry appointments and the draft terms of reference remains to be seen. (I have already seen considerable criticism). One criticism appears to be that the panel is not led by a judge (or former judge). In law, there is no requirement that an inquiry has to be chaired by such an individual though such appointments are generally seen as independent of government.
The Inquiries Act 2005 will apply to the Inquiry.
This blog will endeavour to follow developments.
Links
See Hansard - Statement by Home Secretary
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